Third Annual Black Men's Initiative Forum
A Vision of Passing it On
A Vision of Passing it On
Left: Robert Agnew Jr. (l-r) and Tony Williams
By Jonathan Gramling
About two years ago January, six African American male students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — Robert Agnew Jr.,
Timothy Cole, Cameron Thierry, Willie Williams, Martinez White and David Wright — talking about the challenges they faced as
students in the minority on a predominantly Euro-American campus. As they were talking, Agnew had a vision.
“We knew we needed to get together as men on campus and get talk about what we need to deal with and what our issues are and
how we can help one another,” Agnew said. “So in less than a month, we got this forum together in 2009 and we had over 100 males
in attendance and it is what you see now today.”
As a result of the second forum, some of the participants decided to formalize the collaboration and founded the Wisconsin
Association of Black Men in 2011. While the UW-Madison had specific initiatives aimed to increasing and retaining the student
diversity on campus, the African American male students felt there was something lacking.
“While some of those programs provide certain resources for us once we get to campus, they provide those at a very academic,
school level, if you were,” said Tony Williams, a co-founder of WABM. “And there are some of those more everyday things that aren’t
provided. They provide resources for us to excel academically. And they create communities for us as well. But there are certain
parts of our culture in our normal everyday interactions that I don’t think those programs can necessarily solve as well as we can by
getting together, just by having certain conversations and just seeing each other on a regular basis and just expressing what our
needs are and how we feel about certain things, particularly with our topic today, Transgenerational Leadership. Those organizations
can provide and those departments on campus can provide us with then resources to do well. But those who come before us can
best tell us how to use those resources based on who we are and where we come from to be more successful on campus. I think that
is something that WABM has almost a monopoly on in terms of being able to do that. Because we are all together and say, ‘These are
the resources that PEOPLE give us. These are the resources that CEO and TRIO and all of those things give us. This is what you do
with them while you are here to make sure that you do well while you are here. I think Black men need to come to this campus to find
the ways of dealing with being the minority in almost every instance with the exception of a WABM meeting.”
That system of support was reinforced on February 25 when WABM hosted the Third Annual Black Men’s Initiative Forum at the New
Ogg Hall on campus. Members of WABM were joined by members of 100 Black Men and other community groups as well as students
from Chicago Prep academy, an all-African American boys school, to learn about the needs for intergenerational connections and
support.
“It’s a holistic approach, hence our title Envisioning Intergenerational Leadership,” Agnew said. “We see that in order for us to get
where we need to go, we need mentors. We need to have that tenacity. We need to make that time. We need to understand that nothing
happens by coincidence and we need to know that it takes all of us. It’s a group effort.”
No one knows the importance of intergenerational support than Dr. Charles Gilmer, a Cornell University professor who was the
keynote speaker at the event. Gilmer, founder of the Impact Movement, talked about the importance of intergenerational mentoring in
the overall social and economic development of the African American community.
“One of the challenges that we as a Black community face is that so many of us have entered into spaces that are new, if you will,
and the idea that a young person who aspires to be a part of a particular field, it’s not all that unlikely that they have a family member
or an acquaintance who is engaged in that field,” Gilmer said. “So I want to encourage the young people to recognize their need to
look for people who can guide them through the process, but also for those of us who are in whatever field that we are in to recognize
that we have an obligation or responsibility to be that environmental tour guide to assist them in that process. If one sees oneself as a
life-long learner, someone looking to grow until they die, there is always someone who is a little further along in the process than you
are who can provide insight and guidance during that season of life. And I really do believe that there is this continuum. That mindset
of bringing others along with you is going to be very critical for the Black community in the years to come so that we can address the
incredible gaps that are developing between those who have been able to access the opportunities in this country and are doing
rather well for themselves and those who are really stuck in a cycle of marginalization and an inability to engage the kind of
opportunities that this country affords.”
What is important to Agnew is that African American men take action to make the University of Wisconsin what they need it to be,
what their experience needs to be. “So many people have visions, but what made the opportunity go there for me with the forum is I
was around at that very moment other people who saw that vision, felt that need and acted on it and took responsibility,” Agnew said.
“And we have what you see today. This isn’t just a forum. I really hope that people get engaged in this process and just be
visionaries. If we focus on the Black males’ part of the title and lose the initiative part, then we are still failing. Then we still are just
having functions where we get together and that is it. But if we remain and hold in high esteem the initiative part, which I believe is
the key word in the Black Men’s Initiative Forum, then we are going to go places.”
Each one reach one is a way to get to places together.
About two years ago January, six African American male students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — Robert Agnew Jr.,
Timothy Cole, Cameron Thierry, Willie Williams, Martinez White and David Wright — talking about the challenges they faced as
students in the minority on a predominantly Euro-American campus. As they were talking, Agnew had a vision.
“We knew we needed to get together as men on campus and get talk about what we need to deal with and what our issues are and
how we can help one another,” Agnew said. “So in less than a month, we got this forum together in 2009 and we had over 100 males
in attendance and it is what you see now today.”
As a result of the second forum, some of the participants decided to formalize the collaboration and founded the Wisconsin
Association of Black Men in 2011. While the UW-Madison had specific initiatives aimed to increasing and retaining the student
diversity on campus, the African American male students felt there was something lacking.
“While some of those programs provide certain resources for us once we get to campus, they provide those at a very academic,
school level, if you were,” said Tony Williams, a co-founder of WABM. “And there are some of those more everyday things that aren’t
provided. They provide resources for us to excel academically. And they create communities for us as well. But there are certain
parts of our culture in our normal everyday interactions that I don’t think those programs can necessarily solve as well as we can by
getting together, just by having certain conversations and just seeing each other on a regular basis and just expressing what our
needs are and how we feel about certain things, particularly with our topic today, Transgenerational Leadership. Those organizations
can provide and those departments on campus can provide us with then resources to do well. But those who come before us can
best tell us how to use those resources based on who we are and where we come from to be more successful on campus. I think that
is something that WABM has almost a monopoly on in terms of being able to do that. Because we are all together and say, ‘These are
the resources that PEOPLE give us. These are the resources that CEO and TRIO and all of those things give us. This is what you do
with them while you are here to make sure that you do well while you are here. I think Black men need to come to this campus to find
the ways of dealing with being the minority in almost every instance with the exception of a WABM meeting.”
That system of support was reinforced on February 25 when WABM hosted the Third Annual Black Men’s Initiative Forum at the New
Ogg Hall on campus. Members of WABM were joined by members of 100 Black Men and other community groups as well as students
from Chicago Prep academy, an all-African American boys school, to learn about the needs for intergenerational connections and
support.
“It’s a holistic approach, hence our title Envisioning Intergenerational Leadership,” Agnew said. “We see that in order for us to get
where we need to go, we need mentors. We need to have that tenacity. We need to make that time. We need to understand that nothing
happens by coincidence and we need to know that it takes all of us. It’s a group effort.”
No one knows the importance of intergenerational support than Dr. Charles Gilmer, a Cornell University professor who was the
keynote speaker at the event. Gilmer, founder of the Impact Movement, talked about the importance of intergenerational mentoring in
the overall social and economic development of the African American community.
“One of the challenges that we as a Black community face is that so many of us have entered into spaces that are new, if you will,
and the idea that a young person who aspires to be a part of a particular field, it’s not all that unlikely that they have a family member
or an acquaintance who is engaged in that field,” Gilmer said. “So I want to encourage the young people to recognize their need to
look for people who can guide them through the process, but also for those of us who are in whatever field that we are in to recognize
that we have an obligation or responsibility to be that environmental tour guide to assist them in that process. If one sees oneself as a
life-long learner, someone looking to grow until they die, there is always someone who is a little further along in the process than you
are who can provide insight and guidance during that season of life. And I really do believe that there is this continuum. That mindset
of bringing others along with you is going to be very critical for the Black community in the years to come so that we can address the
incredible gaps that are developing between those who have been able to access the opportunities in this country and are doing
rather well for themselves and those who are really stuck in a cycle of marginalization and an inability to engage the kind of
opportunities that this country affords.”
What is important to Agnew is that African American men take action to make the University of Wisconsin what they need it to be,
what their experience needs to be. “So many people have visions, but what made the opportunity go there for me with the forum is I
was around at that very moment other people who saw that vision, felt that need and acted on it and took responsibility,” Agnew said.
“And we have what you see today. This isn’t just a forum. I really hope that people get engaged in this process and just be
visionaries. If we focus on the Black males’ part of the title and lose the initiative part, then we are still failing. Then we still are just
having functions where we get together and that is it. But if we remain and hold in high esteem the initiative part, which I believe is
the key word in the Black Men’s Initiative Forum, then we are going to go places.”
Each one reach one is a way to get to places together.
; Above: Dr. Charles Gilmer